Yuma Fire Department Press Releases

On Tuesday December 5, 2017, at about 1:30pm the Yuma Fire Department received a mutual aid request regarding a Task Force deployment to the “Creek” fire burning in the Angeles National Forest, near San Fernando, CA. Within the next hour an Engine and four YFD personnel left Yuma to meet with other members of the Imperial Valley Task Force.

In the hour after the request was received, pre-designated YFD personnel certified for wildland firefighting gathered at Fire Station #1 and loaded a designated fire engine with necessary equipment. YFD personnel will be prepared to be deployed with the Task Force for up to two weeks.

The area where this fire is burning is approximately 300 miles from Yuma. The fire is reported to have burned 11,000 acres, and at last report there were 400 personnel assigned to this fire.

A Task Force usually consists of a group of firefighting apparatus and a team leader drawn from one of the various departments. A team will normally stay together through their deployment and, due to the equipment and training of our personnel, they are expected to be used for structure protection duties.

Little information is available at this time about the Creek Fire, and additional information will be provided as it becomes available. The last time YFD personnel were deployed with a strike team or task force was earlier this year, in July, to the “Detwiler” fire near Mariposa, CA.